ABSTRACT
Sexual attraction has been one of the central subjects of wor ld literature and art from the earliest times; and religions, too, have taken an interest in i t , i f only to erect barriers and decide what is impermissible. But thoughtful, more or less analytical discussions of the sex drive and its significance in human life and culture, including its less overt manifestations, were almost nonexistent before Freud published The Interpretation of Dreams. I n German there was not even any halfway adequate vocabulary for these matters, and when Schopenhauer spoke of the Geschlechtstrieb he actually meant the drive for the propagation of the species (Geschlecht) as much as the sex drive. (This point has been discussed in some detail i n Section 9 o f the second volume of this trilogy.) Nietzsche's epigram "The degree and k ind of the sexuality o f a human being reach up into the ultimate pinnacle o f his or her spirit [or m i n d ] " 9 8 stands out as an exception-even in his books. As one reads that, one instantly thinks o f Freud. But i f one should also wonder whether what Nietzsche says here is true, or even what precisely he might mean, one finds that this is really an "aphorism" and not part of an intricate argument. O f course, there are many scattered remarks about sex i n 98 Beyond Good and Evil, Section 75.
